May 20, 2008

Ice cream! I love the stuff in all it's smooth, creamy, glory. It was always in the freezer of my house growing up and it's still there today. Indeed, there are many reasons to love ice cream but, for me, a big one is all of the great memories associated with it and it's not just any ice cream - it's Baskin & Robbins. I'm not sure that there is any food that is associated with more happy or embarrassing memories. Oh yes, embarrassing in the extreme!

Many of my ice cream memories involve my family. One of the best is of eating ice cream on the roof of my parents big blue station wagon with my sister on the fourth of July while watching the fireworks at Roosevelt Field Mall. We were in our pjs, relaxing with our pillows and blankets. It was perfect.

Not all of my ice cream memories are so specific. Often, on our way home from visiting my grandparents my parents would hit a certain point in the road and turn to each other and ask "B & R?" It was supposed to be cryptic but we understood and grinned all the way. We always stopped at the same shop because it was on the way home.

Convenience is the feature that made that same B & R a favorite destination during my junior and senior year in high school. My friends and I would walk or drive down to the bagel shop and get lunch followed by a special treat next door. Good times!

So, you may be wondering if I have a favorite flavor and I do. Pink bubblegum! YUM!!!

This has been my favorite flavor for freakin' ever and my love for it led to a very embarrassing episode. It's always been a seasonal flavor so sometimes, at the end of the season, I'd go and get a tub of it and ration it out over time.One afternoon, when I was living in a small garage apartment, I came home to find my ice cream gone, missing..... stolen! I looked high and low but there was no sign of it so I did the logical thing and called my landlord. What would you do? You'd report the theft. Right?Well, predictably, my landlord thought I was nuts. It gets worse. I finally found the ice cream in my microwave hours later. I told you it was embarrassing.